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GCIR Regional Funder Briefing: DMV Metro Area

Wednesday, April 22, 2026, 1:00 - 2:00 PM

Regional Funder Briefing Series
Despite the barrage of troubling headlines out of Washington, D.C., the reality of how Americans experience their daily lives plays out at the state and local levels in the communities where they live. As has long been observed, states are the laboratories of democracy, where innovative and promising policies can be tested before being replicated in other states or at the federal level.

In the context of heightened threats to immigrant and refugee communities – and indeed to residents of any immigration status standing up against oppressive federal militarization – states and localities have advanced a range of policies designed to keep all of their residents safe, healthy, and thriving. With examples such as banning 287(g) agreements, limiting data sharing, pushing back against masked and unidentified federal agents, and expanding access to health programs and higher education, many of these ideas originated and were shepherded into law by community-based organizations and advocates at the state and local level. At the same time, mutual aid, legal services, and power-building strategies are being deployed to mitigate harm and lay the foundation for a better tomorrow.

In this regional funder briefing series, GCIR, Four Freedoms Fund, and philanthropic intermediaries across the country are partnering to spotlight the work of creative and powerful organizations that will provide a current state of play in their home states and will uplift contemporary needs, strategies, and opportunities for funder support.

DMV Metro Area Briefing
The Washington, D.C. metro area, colloquially known as the DMV, has long hosted a thriving immigrant and refugee community. In Fairfax County, Virginia, over 30% of the population is foreign born, while nearly 100,000 immigrants live in the District itself. The region overall is currently home to 1.3 million immigrants, placing it among the metro areas in the country with the greatest number of immigrants, ahead of the San Francisco Bay Area, Boston, and Seattle. When considering the larger Washington-Baltimore combined statistical area (CSA), its 1.6 million immigrants comprise nearly 20% of the population, including large Salvadoran, Indian, Korean, Chinese, and Filipino communities.

Though immigrants and refugees are an essential part of the cultural and economic power of the region, regional immigration policy has been a mixed bag. In 2025 former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order requiring state police and corrections department to enter into 287(g) agreements with ICE – a policy recently overturned by Abigail Spanberger, the state’s new governor (listen to GCIR's podcast on the topic here). And after the Maryland Values Act fell short of advocates' goals, Gov. Wes Moore signed emergency legislation banning 287(g) agreements. Meanwhile in Washington, Trump attacked the city’s sanctuary policies, and deployed federal troops as part of a broader strategy of conflating immigration and crime and blurring the lines between federal and local authority.

Through it all, immigrant-led and serving groups have been protecting their communities and advancing policy reforms that serve as a model for inclusive governance. In this webinar, we’ll hear from creative and bold leaders in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington who are charting a course for the region’s future, with recommendations for philanthropic action.